Writing a Villain - Rings of Power SAURON & House of the Dragon AEMOND | Anatomy of a Character
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- Опубликовано: 2 июн 2024
- #ringsofpower #houseofthedragon #lotronprime
In this video, we look at two ''villains'' - Amazon's The Rings of Power Halbrand / Sauron and Aemond Targaryen from House of the Dragon.
Contains spoilers for House of the Dragon & Rings of Power season 1
Intro: 00:00 - 01:15
Halbrand/Sauron: 01:15 - 08:16
Aemond: 08:16 - 13:13
Summary: 13:13 - 14:42
MORE in Anatomy of a Character series:
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Galadriel costume breakdown & re-design: • The Rings of Power - G...
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#lotr #hobbit #gameofthrones #hotd #characteranalysis #moviecharacters 
Развлечения
Sauron actor displays zero menace, Aemond actor radiates it.
Psychopathy actually 🤣 he nailed it
no no no no no Vhagar! these words still haunt me
Menacing chin
yes but discount aragorn morphed into discount sauron. who needs a story when you can have cheap gimmicks cribbed from a previous masterpiece?
Thats kind of the point of Sauron at this time tho
Sauron is supposed to be a villain but thanks to the bad writing, they accidentally made him the protagonist of the story.
Yep.. galadriel comes across as more of a villain than him 😅
Such a relatable dude. He tries to start a new life in Numenor, gives some advice and assistance to (completely undeserving) Galadriel... And what does he do after she discovers his true nature? He just walks away, sparing her life, and gives no sh*t about it. A true Hero we needed, yet his interactions with Galadriel dragged him back to the evil side.
Lol what??😂 sorry I haven’t seen it but are they building him that way now, so that his eventual change hits so much harder? Or am I giving the writers too much credit?
he looks like aragorn and his story is like aragorn. He has nothing in common with sauron.
@@Whogaftbh you're giving the writers waaaaay too much credit. These are the same writers that made it so that the Harfoots aka not-hobbits have a song they sing about how nobody walks alone, and yet if someone gets injured they will literally leave them behind to die like it's nothing. A sprained ankle is effectively a death sentence for one Harfoot character. But the writers intended them to be cute and friendly like the actual hobbits
Aemond has one of the least screen time, yet whenever he is on screen he demands your attention...
YES
I feel gigachad just by watching a scene with him in it.
Aemonds actor is impressive. His character is very silent throughout many scenes, and yet by just standing there he's able to make you feel uneasy, as if something terrible is about to happen, but also you somehow admire him for his composure. It's a perfect example of how the show consistently builds up the context and let the audience fill in the gaps and understand the characters motivations through their actions, all without having to spit on our faces how we're supposed to be feeling.
The first time he stands up when they are all together dining....... He doesn't say a thing, but everyone looks at him, Otto, his mother and Aegon wary of what he might say.
I'm still amazed how Ewan Mitchell nailed his performance. Every time he was on screen, I couldn't look at anyone else but him, his presence demanded attention. He showed great emotion with just one eye, his face expressions, the way he walked in that slow smug way, and even small details like these "hmm" little grunts. In just 11 minutes of screen time he got me totally smitten. Needless to say, Aemond is my favourite character now.
Aemond's actor looked so familiar. He was Osferth in The Last Kingdom. There he played a completly different character, almost polar opposite to Aemond, which shows how important casting good actors is. That's like 70% of what makes a good character on the screen.
The actors name is Ewan Mitchell!
Ewan is such a good actor. Hope we see a lot more of him!
THANK YOU!! I couldn’t place it.
I lost my shit when I realized it was baby monk! That shit-eating grin, I knew it from somewhere! Now he's my favorite character in HOTD
Martin really liked that show. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he recommended the character for HOTD
One thing I like about Aemond's character is that he was born during a long era of peace, but him and a few others in the show seem to recognize that war is coming and he's getting ready for it.
"I don't give a shit about tourneys"
"Who's gonna fall for that?" really says it all. The Rings of Power writers' room saw their show as a trick to play on the audience. HotD is mostly staying true to the plot outlined in Fire & Blood, so everyone who has read it knows what is going to happen, but that doesn't matter because it's a great story and seeing it performed well by a great cast is entertaining even without being shocking.
Gandalf also fits into that mold. He's the key to victory against Sauron.
It also makes it sound like they thought Tolkien's plot was stupid. Which... also says a lot. "Who's gonna fall for that" would've been a good question if Annatar's deception of the elves happened in a few days or even weeks or months. But of course, that's not how Tolkien wrote it, since he worked to gain the trust of the elves for a really long time.
So it's either the showrunners really do not know much about the work they're trying to adapt, or they quite simply thought that Tolkien's writing wasn't good enough. Which, honestly, both could be entirely possible.
@@jhmi7877 I think it was more that the Silmarillion is already written, so some people know what happens, so if they keep it as written, some people will know in advance that Annatar is a bad guy, and they're judging their work entirely by whether it's surprising rather than whether it's good.
It's a lot like a classic criticism of WWE writer Vince Russo: "Think of it like this: if Vince Russo ran a pizzeria, you'd order a pizza and he'd deliver a newspaper. Sure, it's not what you wanted, nor did it make you want to order from there again, but it sure fooled you, didn't it?"
@@billvolk4236
Yeah. They wanna subvert expections or whatever. The thing is, this isn't even an original Amazon show, it claims to be inspired by an existing fictional world but doesn't give any respect to it. Halbrand could have been the Witch King and is also disguising as this random dude, carrying out Sauron's plans but no, he is Sauron because the writers thought that will surprise the audience more even if it makes less sense. Halbrand doesn't gives off dangerous and intelligent Dark Lord vibes, he acts and thinks like a lowly being, in a sense that he doesn't act like a real proud and intelligent Maia (that he is) who only pretends to be a man. Sauron simping for Guyladriel...🤣🤣🤣
I don't even know if they intentionally did this to mirror Varda's rejection of Melkor and Varda choosing his brother, Manwe, over him but they could atleast add Celeborn there so that Guyladriel can choose him over Halbrand. 🤣🤣🤣
I haven't read it and I love it; my nephew has read it and he loves it. We both love that the actions make sense and he loves relating them back to the rumours in the book.
Extremely based takes on Aemond. I would add that the eye situation made him see (no pun intended), by the reaction of everyone around them (including and specially his father) that his side of the family is alone and vulnerable, and thats another reason why he focuses on improving himself. To be a defender of his family, so (for example) his mother (with whom he has a deeper bond as we saw by their physical contact and little gestures) doesn't have to feel that way again.
Thats a good take and makes a lot of sense actually. Thanks 👍
@@jodie3950 Thanks! I mean, you just need to see how even when he's trying to take revenge on Lucerys, Aemond is all about his mother. "I plan to make a gift of it to my mother", pretty sure because he remembers how she felt. Even his iconic quote "Do not mourn me, mother. It was a fair deal, I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon", when you think about it, seems to only have the intention of calm her to avoid her doing something crazy (which is what Rhaenyra ''now they see you as you are'' and Daemon (stops Criston from trying to stop Alicent) wanted, so the Hightowers look like madmen in Viserys' eyes and lose his favor). Aemond obviously still keeps a grudge, so it WASN'T a fair deal for him, not really. Its the same reason he accuses Aegon of the bastard rumor, because he undersands that Alicent can be punished by Viserys, but not a royal prince like his brother. I really really love his love for Alicent (even tho they are still a dysfunctional family because of Viserys neglect).
@@perseusveil9376 you're making me see a whole new side of him and I love it too
@@jodie3950
@@perseusveil9376 You don't know how glad I am to see that there are other people who have the same thoughts about these characters as I do. Sometimes I'm arguing with people because they're completely misunderstanding and mischaracterizing these characters and can't understand why they (Aemond especially) appeal to me so much. Aemond is my favorite and it hurts to see people mischaracterizing him due to their ignorance.
Aemond is an "Anti-hero". He is not a villain, not a hero. He is a character who is the hero of the other side, i.e., if you watched the series from the Greens' perspective, he would have been your hero who stood up against bullies and assholes, and clearly corrupt individuals.
11 minutes! And this actor have given us a very unhiged and complicated character. All of those acting out intense emotions with one eye! Looking forward to S2 with how much darker he will become.
It's truly impressive how memorable his character already is given his limited screen time. And the eye. I genuinely didn't know if he'd have the sapphire eye or not but it's fantastic.
well in the books he is pretty much the badass dude u saw already in S1, i dont think he can become worse from that point onwards since he is not the main enemy of Rhaenyra, but i also love how they used the sapphire eye as he appearears in the books. Aemonds main fight will be against Daemon and caraxes, he is the only one who is on the level of maturity and strength as Daemon (dragonwise he is the strongest) but caraxes is also a Frenzy wild beast
Well it's 11 minutes for Ewan Mitchell. It's 20+ minutes for the character of Aemond.
Not sure if Halbrand is a bad actor (haven't seen him in anything else) or just had a bad script and direction.
Aemond on the other hand had excellent material and direction but also had the talent to run with it and make an outstanding character.
Charlie Vickers (Halbrand) actually played a rather fun, lovable rogue in RoP. It's just a shame it was supposed to be a powerful, manipulative, cruel, evil demigod . (And yes, I know there's a theme about Sauron seeking redemption for a time in the source material, but there was no chance that the inept RoP writers could ever actually handle the depth of such a thing.)
The aemond actor is actually pretty unknown, but of course this is a very good and fitting choice
At least 90% of the issue is the writing and directing.
Aemond actor definitely is a star , man managed to show skillset and swoon fans making appearances in less than 3 episodes having small screen time.
The actor isn't really doing a bad job with what he was given, it's just that what he was given was dog shit.
RIP Luke. He was indeed a strong boy.
Another great analysis. Aemond's sibling rivalry also needs to emphasised. His line that his study of history and philosophy would make him a better King than his brother is very significant ...and probably accurate.
Honestly I keep forgetting this Sauron is a villain at all. He's pretty laid back, diplomatic, non threatening, etc. With no real evil traits he exhibits. If I had no knowledge of LOTR and I was watching this show, I would've thought they'd pull a twist and he'd become the hero and galadriel would become the villain at the end, to have like a "rogue hero vs overzealous paladin" thing going on.
The costume doesn't help either. I get they can't dress him in all black and be menacing because he's undercover, but the outfit they did give him makes him look like a premade custom character in a game.
Honestly, if they'd had the balls to make their own original fantasy show and took that concept, they could have actually made a pretty good show, with the paladin undergoing a hero to villain arc where her zeal to destroy evil makes her the villain whereas the previous bad guy has actually reformed and now want to do good and help people.
Of course, that would involve them having the balls to make a female villain who falls into such corrupted righteousness and is rightfully portrayed in the story as in the wrong, while having the male hero justly earn his redemption and show humility, courage, honor, and the ability to lead a morally declining people to a better state.
@@shadowwarrior3444
Yeah. They don't have both balls and creativity tho. They need to rely on the success and popularity of the trilogy, borrow (or buy) names of familiar character names and places. They know that their original series will drown in the sea of fantasy shows and movies so they need a (Hal)brand. 😂 Naturally, they got the attention of Lotr fans of all sorts. But the reaction tho, overwhelmed them.
So you think evil is stupid? No evil is smart it makes the rabble stupid and preys in their stupidity. The fact we have people in today's world who think evil is this ack or white thing that can't lie or hide it's nature is scary... I guess that's why people like Hershel walker can almost win and why Ted Cruz keeps getting relected
If you didn't know about lord of the rings... You would think by watching this show that Galadriel is the villain.
Sauron was a villain in ROP? He was selfless, respectful, courteous, a loyal ally -- seemed like a good dude imo
It is the perfect deception really. I disagree with the premise of this video that Sauron is poorly written for a villain. You can never really trust anyone even if they appear to be good.
@@Novusod how can he be a villain if he doesn't do anything villainous?
he saved the elves. He's the fg hero.
@@Novusod Sauron does nothing evil throughout the show. As an evil character he does not make sense
@@hans471 nothing makes sense in RoP
Even this Aemond guy can pass as an elf. ROP elves are regular guys with pointy ears.
hah that's too accurate
Aemond is one of the most based characters I’ve seen on television. I’m 30 and I fanboy over him like no other
House of the Dragon's Protagonists are also its antagonists since it's a civil war with protagonists on both sides. Got to remember the terms Protagonist and Antagonist don't mean hero and villain, a hero can be an antagonist of a story like L from Death Note, and a villain can be a protagonist like Darth Bane and Darth Zannah. Now in House of the Dragon, a majority of the characters are morally grey like Aemond but it does have characters that are more clearly evil like Larys Strong or even Daemon whose actions lean to more evil though he does have a heart.
Exactly, thank you.
Sauron is *such* an amazing, badass villain in the lore, he isn’t just this suit of armour and the eye atop Barad Dur, he’s is Machiavellianism made manifest. He’s manipulative, cunning and deceitful but also incredibly wise, charismatic and intelligent. He brought down one of, if not the greatest civilisation Arda has ever seen by guile, manipulation and sheer spite. His want to dominate all life, stems from his want to bring order from chaos and create a world without chaos, disruption, confusion or conflict.
If you want a great depiction of Sauron, look at Shadow Of War and Shadow Of Mordor. Those games may play rough-shod with the lore, but their depiction of Sauron is second to none so far, because despite being beautiful and fair looking in the form of Annatar, he just oozes menace and evil. You see his eyes and face and you just see malice. In ROP, as someone else pointed out, he might as well be Moses and Galadriel is the Pharoah riding in to kill all the Orcs/Slaves.
You're really overstating it. Sauron is never truly a character in the source material. He's a presence.
@@joelhenry5489 I don’t think you can simply be ‘a presence’, when you’ve just turned into a giant Werewolf to fight a God’s hunting dog, or are actively fighting, administering, orchestrating and forging his rings like he does in the First and Second Age, it’s only in the Third Age that he’s ‘a presence’ because he literally doesn’t have a body and can only act by his minions.
@@pyrrhusofepirus8491 He's an entity, a god-like being. He says very little and we get very little of his motivations other than a desire for conquest. Tolkien describes his underlying motivations in about two lines. He's a plot device representing great evil, not a character. Totally one dimensional.
@@joelhenry5489 From The History Of Middle Earth “Sauron had never reached this stage of nihilistic madness. He did not object to the existence of the world, so long as he could do what he liked with it. He still had the relics of positive purposes, that descended from the good of the nature in which he began: it had been his virtue (and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse) that he loved order and co-ordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction. (It was the apparent will and power of Melkor to effect his designs quickly and masterfully that had first attracted Sauron to him.) Sauron had, in fact, been very like Saruman, and so still understood him quickly and could guess what he would be likely to think and do, even without the aid of palantíri or of spies; whereas Gandalf eluded and puzzled him. But like all minds of this cast, Sauron's love (originally) or (later) mere understanding of other individual intelligences was correspondingly weaker; and though the only good in, or rational motive for, all this ordering and planning and organization was the good of all inhabitants of Arda (even admitting Sauron's right to be their supreme lord), his 'plans', the idea coming from his own isolated mind, became the sole object of his will, and an end, the End, in itself.”
@@pyrrhusofepirus8491
I think the one of the best thing that support Sauron being a great villain is the One Ring. The One Ring's influence is almost impossible to defeat. It can corrupt anyone really, especially the wearer, no matter how noble and selfless he/she is.
I would prefer say Aemond as an anti-hero. He was cruel to his enemies yet he defended his family & allies. He was daring, cunning & charming. The youngest prince to ever claim the largest dragon alive.
His story arc was incredibly well-written. He was the “sword” from his party, the key player in the dance of the dragons. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny he was a perfect embodiment of a dragon warrior, a legit Targaryen prince🔥
Great video! Aemond is my favorite character from the show and I really hope the writers don't ruin his character in the future
Well he dies, if that counts
@@11simonjr yes but until then I hope the writers don’t butcher his character and that he remains great until his death
@@user-vj6ws1op4u The source material is all there and GRRM is heavily involved in the writing. That’s not really a rational fear to be honest.
Aemond looked how I expected Sauron to look.
Ikr
I feel like Aemond is a complex anti-villain, and it feels right to call him one imo. Like he is set up to be an underdog character in his introduction with good traits and virtues for the circumstance he's in. TV Tropes says anti-villains have "heroic traits"; I don't necessarily think he has heroic traits, but simply admirable traits the show puts on the forefront when his younger-self is introduced. If Aemond were to be a straight up villain, I don't think the show wouldn't have framed his childhood the way they did. And I would say what parts of him put the "villain" in anti-villain are that his goals are more selfish and do not include "moral betterment", as said in the video.
This comment could age like milk, depending on the show progresses.
Aemond is incredibly complex, and I love his character to bits, but I feel that a lot of his issues stem from the toxic upbringing he's had and his resentment towards his sister and her spawn for his loss of an eye and the fact that Viserys did nothing to remedy the situation other than scream about his grandsons, their paternity, and rug sweep.
Aemond looks like the elf than the elves in ROP
Galadriel is not a too bad written villain.
she does indeed make a more convincing villain
And that's the problem, she's clearly framed to be the heroic righteous character but all of her traits this far comes across as villainous.
If this were another female elf character and framed more as an antihero I think this could have been interesting
Aemond is not bad, is badass.
Your Aemond analysis resembles a reddit rant of mine, haha. I love that other people think the same way about his trauma and need for control.
He is the best Antihero.
Dragons choose their Dragonriders. Remember, the wand chooses the wizard. Vhagar chose Aemond.
Right , people who say Aemond stole Vhagar don't know what they are talking about , if Dragons were heirlooms , then Caraxes would be passed to Rhaenys not Daemon since it belonged to her father ! And Maelys would be passed to Viserys or Daemon since it belonged to their mother !
I think the last scene is the true Aemond, and I think it confirms that Aemond is, in fact, impulsive and allows his deep-seated resentment to guide him. It shows that he feels aggrieved and is mainly concerned with getting revenge for his eye, and that his ''fair exchange'' spiel as a kid was just a bit of wordplay to assuage the tense situation. He is still bitter and wants to get back at his nephews, which is evident in episode 8. Literally every scene he has in that episode is him intimidating them, creepily staring at them or insulting them in a roundabout way. Of course, my view of him is slightly influenced by the books, but I think it's consistent with what the show has depicted so far.
Excellent getup for Aemond actor he look like a person(targaryen) whose is related to fantasy magical race. He was more menacing then daemon with so little dialogues and the actor did a great job too.
Yes!!
What I really look forward to in hotd is Aemond one eye vs Prince Daemon. They're both their sides best Targaryen warrior and that scene in episode 8 where Aemond starts a fight only to have it end when Daemon steps in front of him is good foreshadowing for what is to come and I cannot wait!
1:43 This is the show's downfall. They never trusted the source material at all. Thinking you can write better than Tolkien is very arrogant and stupid. HoTD did change some stuff, but at best it was still a faithful adaptation of fire and blood.
Its not like anybody wouldn't buy it, its more like you dont get it. Its so sad to see what they've done to this wonderful franchise. Breaks my heart.
The sheer hubris of thinking they could writing something not only on par with tolkien but better...
There are cases where movie makers actually did change the source material and it worked out as good or even better. It might be harder, but it is not impossible. And Tolkien isnt that great of a writer honestly. Fantastic in world building of course, but in writing...
Incredible character analysis. Even aside from the comparison, your analysis of each individual character is so spot-on and you completely encapsulate why Aemond has become on my favorite characters of all-time with just a few minutes of screentime.
Aemond has become one of my favorite characters EVER.... and the best is yet to come......... I also think the actor who plays Aemond is doing an amazing work.... the other one, well, he's ok I guess.
Aemond got that blood elf swag. god damn.
I love Aemonds depiction and how everyone is shown in the show. The writers said everyone will have flaws and good parts of themselves so it makes it hard to ally yourself with either side or a lesser evil. Rhaenyra clearly lied about her sons but defends it for her claim. Alicent was forced into duty to do terrible things but she is doing what is expected of her and what had been expected. That’s what makes a great story and makes people invested about character relationships.
You put more thought into The Rings of Power than the writers did.
Aemond to me isn’t even a villain. He’s an antagonist to Rhaenyra and her family, but if you are for the Greens then he’s one of their arsenal. He is ambitious, but he has a right and reason to be. A bit unstable, but I chalk it up to him being a Targaryen 🔥
"Who's gonna fall for that ?!"
Meanwhile, Halbrand : survives an extremely intense 6 days horseride to Lindon with his guts nearly spilling out, recovers seemingly overnight, goes uninvited into the brand new ultra important forge of Celebrimbor and injects himself in the project of forging the rings. Because that surely will not raise any suspicions.
Halbrand just seems like an....okay...dude. He really doesn't have much personality. He's not charming enough to seduce people into following his plans like Annatar; but he's not intimidating enough to frighten them into becoming his minions as Sauron. He's just okay. Guyladriel comes across as way more evil. XD
I wasnt too fond of Galadriel either, but "GUYladriel"?? Seriously?
@@abraham2172 It's a Nerdrotic reference. She acts like a obnoxious dude, so "Guyladriel the Girlbarian!"
And yet another great videi from you! Finding your channel has been quite the gift!
I like the calm, serious approach you went with when criticizing RoP, in contrast to the huffy, whiny and very angry sounding approach of many other RUclipsrs. Well done.
Very well captured, though it's not sauron actor's fault but somehow plot lacked that and Aemond was presented like cake
Protagonist and Antagonist are not moral labels, they are narrative labels. Saying that "We dont have a protagonist in House of the Dragon since people are morally complex" is wrong. We do have a protagonist in the show: Rhaenyra. Because Rhaenyra is the person we follow throughout the story. All characters and their relationships leads down to Rhaenyra. The story in short is about Rhaenyra. Yes there are side stories but the show frames Rhaenyra as the protagonist. Your summary of Aemond as it pertains to whether he is "A villain or an antagonist" is wrong.
The Protagonist of the story is not equatable with a "Hero" type of character or necessarily a "Good" or moral character. Being the protagonist simply means that character is the one we the audience follow. It is the Protagonist story. The Antagonist is not necessarily equatable with a Villain, or an evil character, because being the Antagonist just means that character is the main opposing character whose goals runs contrary to the Protagonist.
Either character can be tragic or morally complex or outright evil. If we follow a bunch of criminals then they are going to be the Protagonists, and the cops will be the Antagonists. If we follow a dark story about a serial killer then he is our protagonist, and the detective interviewing victims families and trying to find out the truth is the antagonist. It's about the framing of the story, you could easily flip that scenario and have the film be about the detective trying to find a serial killer.
**That's** the nuance so many people are missing in stories- & why so many things come across (or _are_ ) so shallow - people _talk_ about it (the importance of nuance), but so many fail to apply it- & wonder why recent media doesn't resonate with audiences; so little has depth, or builds on a sturdy foundation....
Interesting observation, thanks for sharing... in all my 5 years of english lit studies we never made that distinction, there was always an emphasis also on the moral component... thanks for the clarificarion!
@@LanaMarie I'm sure two things can be true when applied from different points of view. I come from a Film and Scriptwriting pov thanks to my Bachelors in Fine Arts. Just to clarify my stand on the matter.
I’ve had the same experience as LanaMarie, thank you for explaining this point.
You are right in your analysis, except the part where Rhaenyra is the protagonist, because we don't follow her that closely. In the main series each pov character is the protagonist of its own POV for example, but many people think that Eddard is the protagonist. In HOTD I think that we could say that Rhaenyra and Alicent are both Protagonists of their respective storylines.
Great analysis, appreciate the focus on the quality (or lack there of) of the writing and character arcs.
You basically put all my thoughts into words, I love your content!
Great video, Lana. I really enjoy your character breakdowns.
Thank you!
Thank you for a very good and nuanced analysis. No bashing, demeaning or scorn, but well based and explained arguments. Have tried to find those concerning TROP and therefore this was a very precious find. A bow to you and the logarithm. :)
thank you!
Great analysis! The crazy thing about Aemond is we already know how his character develops, and it only gets better and better from here. Definitely up there with one of my favorites from ASOIAF!
Very nice video! Definitely look forward to more videos.
I have seen many Rings of Power videos, but as others have pointed out, they all sound so whiny. I really like your video essay.
As for Aemond, he's definitely my favorite in the show. Can't wait for season 2 (and we'll have to wait :(((( )
Wow this was a really enjoyable analysis on Aemond. By the end I had forgot that Sauron was the other half of the video.
Very well done! Your points for both characters were spot on, liked and subscribed :)
I have not seen Rings of Power, but I absolutely love Aemond and your analysis is spot-on!
I agree with your examination of Aemond with one exception...
you say that he's "far from being a slave to his emotions and impulses", but not only do I disagree with you - I'd even say, following his his emotions and impulses is his biggest weakness:
He did allow his emotions to overpower him in the episode 10 scene in Storm's End two times (first with the "give me your eye!" scene, second with actually following Lucerys), but he also got triggered by Lucerys mocking him with the pig during the "last supper" scene in episode 8, going for immediate retaliation with the "Strong boys" line, although he should know the consequences of it.
After he claimed Rhaegar in episode 7, when the girls accused him of stealing the dragon, he followed his impulse and went for confrontation (like the other 4 kids) instead of trying to de-escalate the situation (to be fair, he was just a kid then).
great point!
i agree with you too. i feel like aemond's got restraint as long as his childhood PTSD doesn't surface. the pig/eye are his triggers. restraint would be like tyrion coming at you with snark for calling him a dwarf, etc. his advice to jon getting used to being called a bastard, "wearing it like armour so it can't be used to hurt you" is a far better display of restraint.
Aemond isn't a villian, that's why he works. After taming his dragon, sure he threw some insults.. But he was attacked by 4 others, he defended himself and won the fight until he was stabbed in the face.. Even in the last scene, you see the look in his face.. His intention wasn't to kill his nephew, he was just being a dickhead.. plus he's still sour that he lost his damn eye 6 years ago. A good "Villian" is someone who you can empathize with and see their points of view.. In GoT, Ramsey and Joffery work so well because the rest of the villians have empathy, so you're kind of forced to have some classic unredeamable villains.. Just to make them different.. But a universe without that, the villians are boring.
Now THIS is a worthy video about 🐲Aemond (One-Eye) Targaryen The Kinslayer. Thank you so much you did🐲 AMAZING 👍🔥😍
great analysis!! I love that you point out how Aemond's drive to improve himself stems from a place of lack and how he does that with the mindset of a problem solver. it's his life experience that informs his character, rather than an addiction to power it's the suffering from being powerless that drives him (though one could argue that he later comes to love the high that having power gives him). those are some things that really make him different from Daemon who's motivations are much more privileged and entitled
I also want to refer to an interview the actor did recently that sheds some more light on the character or at least how he portrays him - according to Mitchell when Aemond claimed Vhagar he felt a sense of connection to her, sensed her loneliness in a sense and saw her as a friend rather than a possession. a nice little detail especially when you consider that Rhaena in contrast saw Vhagar as a heirloom that could be passed down which is not how dragon bonds work
anyways, loved your video as usual! very happy that it's gained so many views
Really enjoyed your analysis! Great video! Subbed :)
Spot on. rOp was a poorly done script. Pity it had potential. I like Aemond’s portrayal in the show. More fleshed out. And now we know his motivations and also his vulnerability. Good analysis 🎉 !
"Who's gonna fall for that?" hearing it made me say " f*** you, moron " out loud.
If Sauron was able to fool the elves in the books it was because he seemed selfless and trustworthy.
When we see Elrond or Durin or Disa or Nori in the show we categorize them as "good" characters (in the sense of moral alignment) because they were crafted to appear to be a good person. As we take for granted that they are good people, a real (but bad) twist would be to reveal that those characters are in fact evil.
So if you want to create "a tall, mysterious, beautiful demi-god Anatar" that doesn't raise suspicion and looks like a good character then CREATE ONE. Just use the SAME pattern that you use to create real selfless and trustworthy like Elrond, Durin etc... and THEN subvert the expectations by revealing in the end that it was a selfish traitor.
Of course it wouldn't fool people who have read the books but WHY WOULD YOU TRY TO FOOL THEM THEY ALREADY KNOW THE STORY.
ROP writers : *create many good, innocents, selfless and trustworthy characters*
Also, ROP writers : "We couldn't introduce the character of Annatar because people would be suspicious of someone that looks good, innocent, selfless and trustworthy"
@@76Eliam I’m pretty sure the show runners didn’t have the rights to use the character of Annatar
imagine if peter jackson tried to subvert the expectations of Lotr bookreaders haha
The actor playing Sauron isn't very good either. Matt Smith is amazing!
Matt Smith does not play Aemond tho
Tell me you want to jump on the rop hate train without telling me.
Matt Smith is great yes, but Ewan Mitchell (the actor who plays Aemond) has done a lot for just 11 minutes of screen time.
A funny thing happened when I was watching both these shows with my brother back to back. Aemond as easily my favourite character on the one show. The smirk, the swagger, I just loved him.
On the other show we were speculating about whether or not that character would turn out to be Sauron. My brother said he must be as Sauron was supposed to be handsome, charming etc and I said he didn’t fit the bill as I didn’t find him either of those things. My bro said that was because I liked bad boys and he was pretending to be good. I argued this as I didn’t think I had a thing for bad boys. At that point in the show Sauron revealed himself and there was a little moment in the acting evil that made me 50% more attracted to the character. 😂 so it turns out I do like bad boys. Not out and out villains but the confidence, the presence that a good grey character can bring to the screen. By all means have them act as the good guy but give me intensity that there is something behind the eyes, intelligence, humour, pain... something.
I'm reading through the Dance of Dragons/Fire and Blood at the moment after finishing HotD, and I noticed a really fascinating change in general characterization between the book and the show that I think really plays into what you've said about it being hard to define the protagonist/villain of this show.
Both mediums take pains to show that these are very morally ambiguous characters - there isn't truely a protagonist or a villain as this video and the Galadriel/Rhaenyra videos have put it, and everyone is a war criminal. But the characters in Fire and Blood come across as a lot less likeable* than in HotD, so when they commit atrocities I don't find myself all that affected by it because it feels part of the package of 'ambiguous morals and unlikeable actions'. But the show - oh the show - has really brought these people to life and made them REAL for me. It has expanded on the foundations set by the book and pulled me in, made me feel so invested in these characters - greens AND blacks - because they're so tragically human now, and watching them struggle with the consequences of their own actions, knowing the motivations that give their actions more perspective, has been incredible. All this to say, the show has made the cast as a whole more likeable (or maybe human is a better term - I HATE Otto Hightower with all my being and absolutely love watching everything he does).
These characters are hard to define as protagonist and villain because they're all kind of are both, in their own way. And I think this added layer of depth is going to really make the future seasons very, VERY spicy - no spoilers for what is to come (because I don't want to take that away from people), but I am very, very interested to see how they try and handle certain plot points without devolving into stereotypical protagonist/antagonist roles. How are they going to continue making these characters loveable when they do unforgivable things? And going off this first season, I think they're going to try very hard to not end up with a good vs bad side, which is going to make it hurt all that more when your favourite war criminal does something horrifying.
*Just noting I don't mean this as a bad thing - the characterization in the novel is still excellent and these are brilliant characters that I think were very intentionally written this way by GRRM.
It think the term “villain” is always a good term to use for characters because it gives writers the opportunity in incorporate moral dilemma’s within and throughout the characters story, and also these characters are usually the ones that have the most depth to them from a moral perspective like they know their bad but they carry on still barely the consequences of their actions. (I’m a GoT , HoTD and ASOIAF guy I don’t know much about LoTR😭)
Is Aemond even a villain? As far as I know none of the main players in house of the dragon are villains and no one is hero. I feel like the perspective of Aemond being villain is dependent on which “side” of house of the dragon you support, not that he’s canonically a villain
I mean.. did you watch the video?
Read the book, there is a clear answer to that. The series just give him a bit more depth than he originally has.
@@stacystacy4289 The book is extremely biased and unreliable though.
I didn't think that halbrand's actor was bad. Halbrand was the only character i kinda liked and they turned out to be villain. Even though this galadriel is the villain herself.
Based Aemond takes. I love him as a character. One thing I didn't exactly like was the fact he demanded Luke's eye when, in his younger years, he said losing the eye was a fair exchange.
While in the moment I'm sure he felt it was a fair exchange but I think as years passed he realized how messed it was that he was jumped 4 on 1 just for claiming a dragon, especially when they were making fun of him for not having one.
It was to calm his mother down, ofc nobody would get over someone taking your eye, gaining a dragon was all on Aemond he didn't owe them nothing.. I'm surprised we the fans of got and asoiaf are even asking these silly questions
He only said that to calm the situation down, I thought that was very clear tbh. Even the way it was shot, you can see him realizing what situation his mother is in and what he has to do to prevent it from escalating further. He was a very attentive, smart and mature kid, as shown in that scene. I don't think anyone would loose an eye and just shrug it off like it's nothing, with or without dragon. Aemond's actor himself said Aemond was wronged, it's natural to still feel that hatred years later.
@@moviecast13exactly and Aemond is now bigger, and much stronger. I’m sure that influenced his feelings also.
@@AnkitSingh-cd7tw I understood he said it to calm Allicent down/ show appreciation that She cared so much. But it is more than that: I lost an eye and have found with time it is no joke.At the time as a kid he surely did not know what a lost eye entailed.
I liked Halbrand's actor.
Really don't think the actor is at fault, he just had shit to work with.
Aemond is simply perfectly captured.
Full disclaimer:
I endured RoP to be able to make and appreciate memes roasting it, little did I know, not even hardened memers could find gold in that turd pile.
Yes, but I also think the actor that plays Aemond is very talented and was perfectly cast, I don't think many actors could've done what he did with 11 minutes of screen time.
@@anyak1446 both Young and older Aemond were so amazing right out of the blue, I was not expecting both actors to portray the character so captivatingly.
House of the Dragon has a roster of top notch actors bringing in their absolute A game !
this was a random youtube suggestion, nice video, I would put some background noise on it since just your voice can feel a bit dull to listen to (it's nothing to do with your voice just the lack of ambiental sounds on headphones)
Aemond is not a villain, just an antagonist.
What i expected: inner struggle of a character that actually wanted to make the world a better place, thinking the gods had abandoned middle earth and initialy wanting atone for his past sins and his Masters dark deeds, just to slowly be corrupted by his own power after realising how easy was for him to influence any creature, to later turn into the biggest manipulator doing some Game of Thrones tier of scheeming and ploting, one of the greatest evil geniuses that medieval fantasy ever saw....
What we got: "please notice me Galadriel, being bad gives me amxiety"
One set of writers said "hey, let's fundamentally change and dumb down a character and give him no character qualities because the twist is gonna be so good."
The other set of writers gave us setup and consistent payoff. Almost like writing is a skill.
How I would love to see the aemond actor to play annatar. The silver wigs, the menacing eyes, the tall height, the curled lips shape that gave him the impression of always smirking, the alluring yet unnerving aura. He's basically everything that I imagined what a second age sauron looked like, just give him pointy ears and he's all set. But oh well..... one can only be disappointed :(
I think for a brief time halbrand didn’t want to be ‘Sauron’ anymore. He says that when Morgoth was vanquished he could feel the l light of ‘the one’ illuvatar again. He wanted to redeem himself briefly in the light of the one. But the bad writing just makes it unclear and he switches motivations so easily it’s just so jarring and confusing.
I don’t think Halbrand is Sauron at all but maybe one of the human kings being manipulated with sorcery into believing they are Sauron. I think there will be a plot twist to where this whole time they all fell into the real Sauron’s hands, as everything was according to plan for him. Also I think all the scenes where he kinda loses control like the fight scene are more of his mind just breaking from having 2 personalities inside of him essentially. Or maybe a piece of Sauron’s soul is within him and maybe some other races as well. It would kinda make sense cuz he would have the essence or gain the essence of these races by being their kings. Cuz think about it, every king of one of the races in the series has been actively trying to stop the main characters from progressing within their missions in some way. So maybe Sauron’s soul is split between races and he’s using that to build his “one ring” so he can control all the races fully AS SAURON. Idk man I just don’t think Halbrand is truly/ fully Sauron and there’s something going on with his character instead
The POV change to the dragon riders chase, without changing anything we already knew about the event.
A change of context during the event, which deepens the lore on dragons an adds a weird element of the one eyed dude not wanting to kill his cousin, or start a war in which the realm will burn an dragons will die, on both sides.
Yeeesss I love that even tho I personally love Rhaenyra, everyone is grey, complex and not 2 dimensional in HOTD
“…this speaks more of Galadriel’s stupidity…” 😂😂😂 The TV show in a nutshell.
Some people complain about her being too perfect, some about her being too stupid... Make up your minds.
There needs to be an award or an Oscar category for casting director. HoTD deserves that. RoP does not.
Classic show vs tell issues. Sauron is someone I am told is scary. Aemond scares me.
Although Aemonds actor is killing it, my god does he look a lot older than his older brother's actor.
The Books mentions that he looks older and wiser than his brother.
It's kind of strange bc I don't think his actor looks older, it's just the character. Probably the scar, eyepatch and wig.
I honestly don't see Aemond as the vill. Rhaenyra is a privileged snob who has had dozens of people maimed and killed to protect her lies in the first season alone and she wanted to do the same with Aemond
About Rings....why waste your time analyzing something which dissolves in nonsense the moment you think about it? Never watched anything so insulting to the viewer's intelligence. Such shows often rely on the fact that consumers of visual media will put up with a lot more nonsense than readers of a book, but for the love of Tolkien there has to be a limit! (Neither space nor time nor the lethal power of pyroclastic flows exist!) Still, good job pointing out some of the billion plus problems
Halbrand is a walking charm person spell
We need this Sauron to be likable because we could not roof for anyone else in this show! Even the sea said Galadriel is evil!
I don't follow your channel so maybe I am asking a previously answered question. At 9:00 into the video I wonder why you decided to compare the Halbrand and Aemond, rather than comparing him with a clearly more "Sauronish" character, Otto. When I think about it, in my opinion, Otto would have made an amazing Sauron?
I'll be real, i think more people are interested in aemond than otto. but another things is, hotd made a few changes to aemond's character which make him perhaps a bit more complex and not as 'villainish' as in the book, and that's something rop also attempted with their version of sauron - it's just that one show succeeded and the other one failed. but i absolutely agree, otto is a better 'sauron' than rop's sauron lol
nice point about Otto being a better sauron. he's got the simmering menace thing.
I’ve always felt like rings of power Feels like if you read it on paper as an outline for with the season was planned to be, it would sound good, but then they filmed the outline literally just the outline without actually doing any real work writing a good script, and a good story
Worst thing is, the writing in RoP is so bad, Sauron seems like one of the least evil characters
The show doesn’t understand Sauron on philosophic level. It thinks he’s just Morgoth 2.0. Morgoth is like a child breaking toys when it’s father refused to buy it more. Morgoth is basically Lucifer/Devil. Sauron sees Godhood as role, a role that he could do better than Eru Illuvatar. He is extreme of the ends justify the means and that all progress is good progress. It’s why his orcs are constantly industrializing Mordor. It’s why his goal is dominating, and not really destruction.
Aemond isn't even a villain. Cunning, intelligent, driven, calculated, and ruthless; but also prone to rashness at times and, like most of the young Targaryens, incorrectly thinks of his dragon as a pet under his control.
He's one of the characters that would be better suited for the Iron Throne than his siblings ahead of him in the line of succession. That's just kind of how George writes his characters: the ones you need either get killed or aren't positioned to be able to be where they need to be.
if only more shows took the effort of creating characters like Aemond instead of NPC plot moving devices
Let's cleanse our pallets 💀💀💀
2:08 EXACTLY the main problem with GoT final seasons 😭
But Rheanyra is absolutely the protagonist in is House of the Dragon. A protagonist/antagonist doesn’t mean a hero or villain but they mean the main character and the foil to the main character.
thanks for pointing that out!
Do you think if Halbrand was just a guy named Halbrand that was secretly being manipulated by Sauron he could have been a good character? Maybe then Galadriel realizing what's going on she uses her great magic to break Halbrand free and banish Sauron for the time being? Maybe by doing that Galadriel would give up using physical might against Sauron and starting using her magic might against would be a lot better.
I just wished Rings of Power was it's own show with this dynamic. It would be a lot more justified with having an angry teen protag instead of a few thousand years old elf.
And hate how they make Sauron an incel. That was so cringey.
Exactly. It was so stupid.
he wasn't an incel. He made a proposal. G rejected it. He walked off. That's not an incel.